Eulogy for Little Harry
Eulogy for Little Harry
A Super Nova Kitty Cat
Our love bug, big blue-eyed Little Harry, left us tonight.
He was four months old when he came to us. We named him Little Harry after my brother’s Siamese cat “Little” and also since he was Tin’s Hanukkah Harry gift.
We hoped he was a Hanukkah miracle.
And he was.
He used up three of his nine lives but didn’t make it through the 4th.
He brought the miracle of love into our family. He was a gift.
We are grieving.
He had the habit of putting his paw on my cheek to beg for my touch. He liked to lie in the middle of any game that Tin was playing. During the day he would hop on my desk and insist I pay attention even by coming between me and my work, tossing all of my paperwork and calendar to the floor and chewing the headset chord of my phone in half to make sure I noticed him.
At night he would hop on my bed and tuck his nose into my neck, slip his paw on top of my chest, and purr me to sleep.
He loved to be carried around like a baby.
But he was no angel.
He was a straw stealing, glass breaking, Ziploc bag hiding, paper shade ripping, slipper thieving, houseplant eating, kitchen-counter lounging, toe attacking, consummate shedding, Lego munching, sink occupying, night crawling, head pouncing at all hours of the night gato malo.
He loved dogs.
He loved the front window where he would watch the world go by.
He loved the back window where he would lie in the sunlight.
He wanted outside badly, but his Leukemia prevented him from that luxury.
When he got sick we wrapped him like a burrito and carried him around.
When he got sick we let him sit on the back steps with his cat leash on.
When he got sick he broke our hearts.
When he got sick he was no longer a kitty cat. He was a sick cat.
Little Harry was a Super Nova – burned so bright – and left a big Black Hole.
November 18th, 2017 at 7:52 am
Sounds like Little Harry led a charmed life — the object of affection for a mom and her boy and a connoisseur in the art of bad-catness. Such a loss is powerful enough to stop life for a moment.
November 18th, 2017 at 8:02 am
Maya – yes, that is a good way to put it – life has stopped for a moment so we can reflect on how in a short period of time Little Harry got us all caught up in tricks, fun, and love play and insisted we stay away from the more serious aspects of life. The house is pretty empty this morning without him.
November 23rd, 2017 at 7:39 pm
Oh Rachel…
This “Eulogy for Little Harry” has been opened in a separate tab since Monday, waiting for me to acknowledge your pain. For some reason, I simply couldn’t face your loss, and so I put it off every day. But now, on this your Thanksgiving Day, I read your eulogy once more, slowly, staring into Little Harry’s eyes… into Tin’s eyes… and it’s with tears in my old eyes that I come to express my sorrow for your loss. I give thanks for the love Little Harry was blessed with and for the love he blessed you and Tin with during his short life. I give thanks for your eloquent words that brought me closer to his soul. I give thanks for you, ma belle amie, for you are a Shining Spirit.
Little Harry is in the Light.
He is eternal beauty and LOVE.
Big Warm Hugs to you and to Tin — I hope he’s doing okay.
xox
November 30th, 2017 at 8:07 am
Mudd – I am just seeing your comment and it’s putting tears in my eyes. Yesterday, The Rainbow Bridge, which I had ordered to come in the day Little Harry was leaving us, but which got lifted from my front porch, finally came and Tin and I read it. And I boo-hoo’d the whole way through. Tin insists that Little Harry has become a YoKai, which is a Japanese apparition. He insists that Little Harry didn’t go anywhere, but instead transformed himself into Jibanyan [pronounced chu ban yown] – this is Jibanyan’s story: In episode 1, he was a normal cat owned by a young girl named Amy. The pair were inseparable and loved one another dearly. Though upon dying and becoming a ghost he had faint recollections of Amy standing over his dead body calling him a loser. Due to how upset he was over the ordeal, he chose to repress the memory, including his name he had as a living cat. He haunted the crosswalk he died at and would possess people to fight on-coming cars and trucks as a means of seeking revenge. There Jibanyan met Nate and Whisper, who befriended the former. [It goes on and on but you get the point.]
I can’t believe how loving Little Harry was – I miss him so much – he had become my comfort animal.
Thanks for acknowledging his presence in our life. Love, R
November 30th, 2017 at 3:11 pm
I’m aching with you, Rachel…
And I’m constantly amazed by Tin’s imagination.
I hope I get to follow his journey, his life, because
we’re all in for a wonderful ride!
Sending you warm comforting furry heart-hugs.
I love you xox
January 2nd, 2018 at 11:00 am
Thanks Mudd and love to you. It appears you had a wonderful holiday with your family.